WOMEN'S DAY SCREENING + DISCUSSION : MAGALIR MATTUM

We are excited to invite you to an evening of discussion on Women, Empowerment & Inter-generational Transformation.

"Prabhavati, an independent documentary filmmaker, with the help of her friends takes her mother-in-law, Gomatha, on a surprise trip to reunite with her school friends" An excellent, fresh and exciting movie with a great deal to discuss especially around inter-generational transformation which is a great topic!.

We are excited to have a wonderful panel of Strong women to share their thoughts on this great piece of art.

Moderator of the Event

Sharanya Sekaram

Sharanya identifies as a feminist writer, researcher and activist. She holds an LLB (Hons) and a Masters in Conflict and Peace Studies.

Currently she works with The Grassrooted Trust as their Program Manager. Grassrooted is also a part of the partnership that runs bakamoono.lk of which Sharanya is the English Editor – an online portal in Sinhala, Tamil and English on sexual and reproductive health and rights, ensuring that people can access information in a language they understand. Bakamoono focuses on creating digitally creative and engaging content around SRHR to bring information and conversations to a wider audience. They use memes, Instagram stories, Tweet-Chats, short videos and more to reach their growing audience. They are currently the only multi-lingual platform in Sri Lanka developing digital specific content on gender and SRHR. Grassrooted advocates for age-appropriate relationship education in schools, based on the fundamentals of respect for self, other, and difference

Sharanya also independently works as a project/program consultant, campaigner, activist, trainer/teacher, and researcher in the areas of sexual and reproductive health education, gender-based and intimate partner violence, online gender-based violence, gender education and workplace sexual harassment. She has worked with state institutions, local, regional and international civil society organizations and NGO ‘s, and private sector organizations in her work. This has included The British Council, Oxfam in Sri Lanka and the Association for Progressive Communications.

Sharanya as a writer has been published on several print and digital media outlets locally, regionally and internationally. She also writes a fortnightly column ‘The F Word’ for The Weekend Express in Sri Lanka and is regularly published on bakamoono.lk. You can find her on her blog ‘Writing From That Sekaram Girl’ and on Twitter @sharasekaram

Speakers of the Event

-Minoli Wijethunga

Minoli Wijetunga is an academic, a trainer, and a researcher. Her studies focus on education and its many intersections such as gender and class. She has conducted research in diverse areas including popular culture, war-time literature, and education, and presented at national, regional, and international conferences. A Global Shaper attached to the World Economic Forum, Minoli has worked with groups from multinational corporates to the state sector to teenagers and young children, which informs her work in the field.

-Sandya Salgado

Sandya left the corporate sector after being a mover and a shaker for 27 years in the field of Marketing Communications. Her final stint was as the head of Ogilvy Action, a company she launched and led on behalf of Ogilvy Worldwide for 12 years as its Director / CEO. Ogilvy Action changed the landscape in media neutral communications in the country where she introduced the concept of Brand Activation to the Marcom Industry

She was awarded the Marketer of the Year for her contribution to Marketing through this innovative concept of Brand Activation. She was also awarded the ‘Zonta Woman of Achievement’ for the commitment she championed towards responsible media usage.

Subsequently she joined the World Bank as their Senior Communications Specialist cum External Affairs Officer for Sri Lanka and Maldives. She resigned from the World Bank in 2015 to pursue many of her passions that she kept in the backburner.

Currently she is involved in a multitude of business ventures; digital communications, cinema tourism, leisure planning and consulting on sustainable business management are some of them. She is the principle producer of Prasanna Vithanage’s latest movie in the making – GAADI

Sandya is an independent Director of Seylan Bank PLC and on the Board of Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute and served as the honorary secretary of IFPA (the International Film Producers Association)

Sandya has a degree in Languages, an MBA in International Business Management, a post graduate diploma in marketing and was also trained at John Hopkins University in Baltimore on Leadership in Strategic Communications.